Official Embassy of The South Pacific

by **TSP Foreign Office** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:42 am

Welcome to the Coalition

The official governing regime of The South Pacific is the Coalition. We've lasted well over a decade as a democratic and representative government for The South Pacific.

Official Forums - Our Discord Server - Join the Assembly - Enlist in the Military

Our Government

The Coalition is organized with a mix of characteristics from real-world federal and parliamentary countries. We have three branches of government: the executive, which is split between a head of state and prime minister; the legislature, which is semi-bicameral with a devolved home rule for the in-game community; and the judiciary, headed by the Permanent Justice. The Delegate serves as head of state and protects the region against outside invaders. The government is led by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and it's these players who you should contact if you need to get in touch with TSP's leaders. The legislature is led by the Chair of the Assembly, who runs the Assembly but is not a member of the Cabinet.

Index of Statements

Previous embassies:

June 2011 thru January 2013
January 2013 thru April 2013
May 2013 thru February 2016

7/18/2016 - Treaty of Dissolution with Balder
7/26/2016 - SPSF: Operation HYPErnova House
8/1/2016 - Prime Minister's Regional Address

by **TSP Foreign Office** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:52 am

Statement from the Cabinet
of the Coalition of The South Pacific

Dissolution of Treaty with Balder

The Cabinet of the Coalition of The South Pacific has been conducting a review of our diplomatic and military alliances, as the first mandated Cabinet since the reformation of the Coalition. A review of our relationship with Balder shows that it has been largely non-existent since the inception of the treaty between our two regions. Since 2012, there have been few inter-regional events, very little communication, and several instances of hostile comments from members of the Balder monarchy.

We were dismayed at Queen Solorni’s positions on the coup of early 2016, calling it a "step in a positive direction," which showed a lack of respect for the Coalition’s laws, government, and forum community. Unlike our other treaty allies, Balder did not come to the aid of the legitimate government of The South Pacific. Indeed, Queen Solorni attacked our allies in Lazarus and The Rejected Realms for coming to our aid, calling them "two inactive and defender sinkers [who have] backed the manipulative defender forces in TSP."

Article 1 of the TSP-Balder Treaty reads as follows:

1) Each signatory recognises the government and laws of the other signatory as rightful and shall not seek to overthrow them or assist another region or organisation in doing so.

It is our belief that Balder failed to uphold their obligation under our treaty, by recognizing the Transitional Government over the legitimate Coalition. We cannot be confident that Queen Solorni, Prince North East Somerset, or the Staatsraadet, can be relied upon to come to the aid of the legitimate government should we face a future rogue Delegate or invading force. In other words, Balder's treaty commitment to come to our aid during invasion or coup is not credible, rendering our bilateral treaty ineffective.

Treaties are more than just words on forums. We believe that actions speak to the true intentions and interests of our treaty partners. For that reason, we hereby invoke Article 7 of the TSP-Balder Treaty, dissolving the treaty effective five days from this day.

by **RiderSyl** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 11:51 am

Why didn't The South Pacific dissolve this treaty with Balder soon after it happened, if the information supplied here was really so offensive? Why wait several months?

I'm going to call this what it is: A grudge from TSP's recently elected Foreign Affairs Minister.

by **Mallorea and Riva** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:35 pm

House Isaraider knows no TSP government but the SPSR government.

by **Cormactopia II** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:49 pm

It's unfortunate to see another of the South Pacific's alliances fail at the hands of Glen-Rhodes. Unfortunate, but unsurprising.

by **Canton Empire** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:53 pm

Cormactopia II wrote:It's unfortunate to see another of the South Pacific's alliances fail at the hands of Glen-Rhodes. Unfortunate, but unsurprising.

ooooooooo
More gameplay drama
*grabs coffee*

Seriously though, it looks like TSP had every right to invoke clause 7.

by **Solorni** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:56 pm

TSP Foreign Affairs wrote:Indeed, Queen Solorni attacked our allies in Lazarus and Balder for coming to our aid, calling them "two inactive and defender sinkers [who have] backed the manipulative defender forces in TSP."

I would recommend TSP get a new Foreign Minister who both understands past events or knows how to write official statements? This is embarrassingly bad for an official message.

TSP Foreign Affairs wrote:It is our belief that Balder failed to uphold their obligation under our treaty, by recognizing the Transitional Government over the legitimate Coalition.

Citation needed? I would like to see the official statement from either our Statsminister or from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Glen-Rhodes clearly still has no idea how things work in other Game-Created Regions. This is simply more evidence that he operates on basis of personal, self-aggrandizing and corrupt politics rather than basing his decisions on rationality or on what is best for his region.

by **The Agnostic Collective** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:09 pm

Well, at least the treaty was finally addressed rather than ignored for another few years. Honestly, FA in TSP hasn't really moved beyond its current treaties in a long time. mostly due to GR, whom has influenced the regions FA for far too long.

by **Glen-Rhodes** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:40 pm

Ridersyl wrote:Why didn't The South Pacific dissolve this treaty with Balder soon after it happened, if the information supplied here was really so offensive? Why wait several months?

I'm going to call this what it is: A grudge from TSP's recently elected Foreign Affairs Minister.

This is the first Cabinet with a mandate to govern since Hileville's coup. The caretaker Cabinet didn't make any major decisions, and all attention was focused on the Great Council of 2016. It should be noted, though, that some previous Cabinets internally acknowledged that the TSP-Balder alliance wasn't a real thing. It's easy to push it to the back burner when it's so inconsequential. This was essentially housecleaning, though yes, certain events and comments brought Balder to the front of our minds.

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by **Glen-Rhodes** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:43 pm

The Agnostic Collective wrote:Well, at least the treaty was finally addressed rather than ignored for another few years. Honestly, FA in TSP hasn't really moved beyond its current treaties in a long time. mostly due to GR, whom has influenced the regions FA for far too long.

This is my first term as MoFA since August 2015. Four people have served between my last term and this one, including 2 who are on record as having wildly different views than me. So maybe it's time to reassess who you complain about.

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by **Cormactopia II** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:52 pm

Glen-Rhodes wrote:This was essentially housecleaning, though yes, certain events and comments brought Balder to the front of our minds.

Namely, your desire to freely attack Balder in this forum, and getting called on the fact that you were attacking an ally of the South Pacific as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

by **Ryccia** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 3:10 pm

I ask all of you a question:

Did the treaty even matter in recent times? It seems not, given that Balder and TSP, to my knowledge, are almost completely cut-off from each other. I don't know much of government interactions and contacts, mainly because they're not told to the general public, but, to me, Balder and TSP don't see eye to eye much.

We burned a bridge that was already collapsing, in my opinion. And I'm glad it did.

by **Cormactopia II** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 4:14 pm

Ryccia wrote:I ask all of you a question:

Did the treaty even matter in recent times? It seems not, given that Balder and TSP, to my knowledge, are almost completely cut-off from each other. I don't know much of government interactions and contacts, mainly because they're not told to the general public, but, to me, Balder and TSP don't see eye to eye much.

We burned a bridge that was already collapsing, in my opinion. And I'm glad it did.

And I ask you a question:

Who does TSP regularly communicate with these days? Every time Glen-Rhodes gets into office as your Minister of Foreign Affairs, the top priority seems to be torching alliances he doesn't like. Does anyone really hear from TSP beyond that? Do you really much interact with any of your allies? Perhaps the reason Balder and TSP are cut off from each other and don't see eye to eye is because that's the state of affairs TSP has decided it prefers. When TSP has a foreign affairs agenda at all, it seems only to be about antagonism.

Regions you torch alliances or relations with really lose nothing of any value. TSP never has anything to say to others unless it's something condescending or openly hostile, and TSP is such a mess that having TSP as an enemy doesn't mean any consequences greater than Glen-Rhodes saying mean things about you in Gameplay -- which he'll do anyway, even if you're an ally, if he feels like it. It's clear that TSP's alliances mean nothing to TSP, so why should they mean anything to anyone else?

by **Glen-Rhodes** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 4:35 pm

Well, for one, all of our allies except Balder were in communication with us during Hileville's coup. Even though Europeia took time to discuss the events, they at least let us know they were talking about it.

The Ministry of Regional Affairs has hosted several festivals with our allies. They're going to do more this year, too.

Your comments couldn't be more baseless, Cormac.

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by **Ryccia** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 4:38 pm

Cormactopia II wrote:
Ryccia wrote:I ask all of you a question:

Did the treaty even matter in recent times? It seems not, given that Balder and TSP, to my knowledge, are almost completely cut-off from each other. I don't know much of government interactions and contacts, mainly because they're not told to the general public, but, to me, Balder and TSP don't see eye to eye much.

We burned a bridge that was already collapsing, in my opinion. And I'm glad it did.

And I ask you a question:

Who does TSP regularly communicate with these days? Every time Glen-Rhodes gets into office as your Minister of Foreign Affairs, the top priority seems to be torching alliances he doesn't like. Does anyone really hear from TSP beyond that? Do you really much interact with any of your allies? Perhaps the reason Balder and TSP are cut off from each other and don't see eye to eye is because that's the state of affairs TSP has decided it prefers. When TSP has a foreign affairs agenda at all, it seems only to be about antagonism.

Regions you torch alliances or relations with really lose nothing of any value. TSP never has anything to say to others unless it's something condescending or openly hostile, and TSP is such a mess that having TSP as an enemy doesn't mean any consequences greater than Glen-Rhodes saying mean things about you in Gameplay -- which he'll do anyway, even if you're an ally, if he feels like it. It's clear that TSP's alliances mean nothing to TSP, so why should they mean anything to anyone else?

While I kind of agree with your point, I kinda agree with this termination(even if it is potentially illegal). Their Queen does not amuse me with her comments.

I don't know much with who TSP communicates, even if I wished, I couldn't. I'm not a Cabinet official nor the MoFA, and neither I pay too much attention to other regions, so, do you think I know something about it? Don't ask me, ask someone else. All I'm saying is that Balder-TSP Relations are so non-existant that it is obvious to everyone now that the treaty didn't matter.

Yes, we are a mess, but how about you? Osiris doesn't seem to be doing well these days. And sure, I acknowledge that TSP isn't a powerful region or an important region out there, but we aren't trash. We still matter, and we mean something to many. It's just that we don't have dealings with regions that don't mean anything to us. We deal with regions that matter to us.

Just because we don't have firepower doesn't mean we are powerful in other ways.

by **The Church of Satan** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:10 pm

If anybody didn't see this coming a week ago they're not particularly observant. Honestly this couldn't possibly have been avoided from the moment Glen & Solorni started going back and forth.

by **Glen-Rhodes** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:21 pm

The Church of Satan wrote:If anybody didn't see this coming a week ago they're not particularly observant. Honestly this couldn't possibly have been avoided from the moment Glen & Solorni started going back and forth.

Yes, those were the comments that brought Balder back the forefront of discussion. It's not the reason why the treaty was dissolved, otherwise it would've been dissolved a year ago. Rach's sniping at me isn't anything new. (And for the record, I don't hate her for it.)

To put this into perspective, Tsu openly says that he considered TSP-Balder to be a treaty in name only. The dissolution of the treaty was in the works for a long time. It's just never been particularly important to act upon compared to everything else. And, of course, previous Cabinets haven't wanted to suffer the verbal abuse of the NS Gameplay community. But I can't eat my lunch without my motives for choosing turkey and swiss being called into question, so that wasn't a deterrent to me.

That being said, TSP has a lot to look forward to in the next half of the year. So let's not dwell on foregone conclusions so much!

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by **Cormactopia II** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:27 pm

Ryccia wrote:While I kind of agree with your point, I kinda agree with this termination(even if it is potentially illegal).

Wait, wait, wait. Back up the bus. Potentially illegal, you say?

It didn't occur to me to ask this from the start, but was this termination approved by the Assembly of the South Pacific?

Edit to answer my own question: Nope!

by **Onderkelkia** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:39 pm

On multiple occasions, the Foreign Minister of TSP has made offensive comments about treaty allies of his region. He has disclaimed these on the grounds that he was speaking in a personal capacity - in spite of him possessing executive responsibility for conducting TSP's foreign affairs. It is therefore ironic that he has chosen to end an alliance by citing the comments of Balder's constitutional monarch, who has no executive authority over Balder's foreign policy.

Ultimately, this only goes to show Glen-Rhodes's dedication to wrecking TSP's relations with non-defender regions, even if it means searching for pretexts from months ago, when TSP had no official response during the intervening period. I would feel sorry for other members of The South Pacific for the fact that their foreign policy is being run in this way, if it was not essentially their own fault for allowing Glen-Rhodes to run rampant with his agenda.

Glen-Rhodes wrote:Well, for one, all of our allies except Balder were in communication with us during Hileville's coup. Even though Europeia took time to discuss the events, they at least let us know they were talking about it.

You previously stated that "Europeia certainly wasn't anywhere to be found". It is pleasing that you have now chosen to revise your assessment.

Cormactopia II wrote:It didn't occur to me to ask this from the start, but was this termination approved by the Assembly of the South Pacific?

Clearly he could not risk getting the wrong answer.

by **Cormactopia II** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:41 pm

I have a new question. Did the Cabinet vote to repeal the treaty, or did Glen-Rhodes unilaterally make that decision?

by **Solorni** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:51 pm

It's disappointing how this "Ryccia" player appears to be ignoring the constant offensive remarks of Glen-Rhodes who is the initiator of all the sniping between himself and many other players, this is despite the fact that he runs TSPs foreign affairs while I am not responsible for it at all. Amusingly, it appears that Glen-Rhodes also does not even know the laws of his own region given he apparently is doing this illegally. Hopefully TSP can continue to rebuild in the future and gain the level of government befitting its stature.

by **Tsunamy** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:53 pm

Can we all simmer down for a minute?

I was really trying to not get involved here since my new job description doesn't call for it, but since GR brought me up, I'd like to clarify a couple things.

1) Unlike Cormac's assertion, I've been in touch with two allies in the past three/four days and a third ally TSP is in near constant contact with. While we don't make huge moves on the global stage like overthrowing regional governments and installing ourselves as delegate, I think we can agree that we are at least talking to our friends.

2) I have stated that the alliance seemed to be in name only because there are been little involvement between the regions for some time. During my first term as delegate, I had run on the platform of renewing relations and Balder was the alliance member that notably didn't respond to a request for a meeting. Please take that how you will.

3) The reason this wasn't discussed sooner is that -- as caretaker delegate -- I was unaware of this charge. If Balder sooner deal with a coup than with the legitimate government, this treaty should be dissolved and would've been in February. That doesn't mean we didn't take it seriously, it simply means I didn't know about it.

Again, having no part in the decision, I'm only sounding off on the parts that I can (and only because I was injected in to this debate). If anyone requires more needs for clarification, I'm happy to give it to them privately.

by **Sandaoguo** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:55 pm

Cormactopia II wrote:I have a new question. Did the Cabinet vote to repeal the treaty, or did Glen-Rhodes unilaterally make that decision?

The Minister of Foreign Affairs has no unilateral authority to present, ratify, or dissolve treaties. Negotiated treaties are sent to the Cabinet for approval, then the Cabinet presents the treaty to the Assembly for ratification. In our previous Charter, there was an explicit supermajority Assembly vote requirement to dissolve a treaty. That requirement no longer exists, and so the Cabinet may dissolve a treaty itself. That's what occurred here. Though normally the specifics of a Cabinet vote wouldn't be shared, it's already been said on Discord that 3 Cabinet members voted to dissolve.

by **Solorni** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:57 pm

Tsunamy wrote:2) I have stated that the alliance seemed to be in name only because there are been little involvement between the regions for some time. During my first term as delegate, I had run on the platform of renewing relations and Balder was the alliance member that notably didn't respond to a request for a meeting. Please take that how you will.

I'm sorry but Balder does not participate in the elections of TSP. Did you talk to our Statsminister or Minister of Foreign Affairs? Who exactly in Balder did you contact?

Was Glen-Rhodes slandering Balder and making up lies on the NS forums this outreach?

by **North East Somerset** » Mon Jul 18, 2016 6:12 pm

Glen-Rhodes crusade against non-defender treatied allies of TSP continues.

I mean to be honest this whole issue makes a complete mockery of the TSP Charter. Treaties get the same treatment in the Charter as general laws. Can the TSP Cabinet also randomly decide it wishes to repeal laws but it doesn't need to go to an Assembly vote? The whole concept of doing this in this underhanded way instead of taking it to a proper vote makes a mockery of the democratic principles that TSP used to be run on.

This style of decision-making is more in keeping with a moralistic defender ideology, than a cosmopolitan democracy. But G-R has decided that the legislature doesn't need to have a say on that issue. He knows what is best for TSP. Namely, breaking ties with non-defender regions. Democracy is good when it gives the results he wants, but the rest of the time lets just ignore it.

For that reason, we hereby invoke Article 7 of the TSP-Balder Treaty, dissolving the treaty effective five days from this day.

Rumour has it that you are a great academic, but yet it seems you are having some difficulties with basic reading comprehension - if you read Article 7 it says "treaty shall be considered void if a signatory region makes a post to that effect in their embassy on the other signatories forums"

Yes that means a post needs to be made in the TSP embassy on the Balder forums, not grandstanding in Gameplay. Otherwise you aren't invoking Article 7, you are just unilaterally repealing it outside of the procedure.